(Gary, IN) The Gary SouthShore RailCats are a day away from kick starting the 2026 American Association season, today Field Manager Jeff Isom finalized his roster before they head to Lake Country to face the East Division Champion DockHounds.
Isom enters his first full season as the leader of the club after taking over the team midway through the season. When he took over the RailCats record stood at 19-43, Isom would go on to win 19 games as the ‘Cats Manager in 37 games to finish the year. Isom managed in the Milwaukee Brewers minor leagues, took the Chicago Dogs to the East Division Championship Series in 2024, and won a Frontier League Championship with the Joliet Slammers.
Owen Reith comes to Gary to serve as Bench Coach and Assistant of Baseball Operations. Reith was a coach for the Dogs for three seasons and in all three years the Dogs made it to the East Division Championship Series, even winning in 2023 to advance to the Miles Wolff Cup Final. The Dogs record with Reith as a coach was 161-138.
Kent Willis enters his fourth year as pitching coach of the RailCats and it will be his 40th season in professional baseball, dating back to when Willis was drafted by the Cincinnati Reds out of Southern Miss. Before the RailCats Willis worked for the Atlanta Braves and was a pitching coach at several levels in their farm system from 1996 to 2009. Last season the RailCats posted the best ERA in the month of July(3.07), the team also posted the best season ERA since 2019, had five complete game shutouts for the first time since 2018, and the 1.485 WHIP was the lowest since 2019.
Chris Jacobs was a former prospect with the Los Angeles Dodgers, St. Louis Cardinals and Chicago White Sox and began his coaching journey with the New York Mets. Jacobs worked as a player development coach for the Mets Triple-A affiliate, and bench coach for the Florida Complex League Mets. Jacobs begins his second year as the hitting coach for the ‘Cats and in just his first year the team saw improvements in batting average, on-base percentage and walks compared to the 2024 stats.
At the catching position the RailCats have returner Cooper Edwards, last season Edwards threw out 24% of potential base stealers when the league average was 16%. Colin Summerhill broke the single-season home run record at Northern Illinois in 2024 with 19, last year he played in the Los Angeles Angels farm system after he signed as an undrafted free agent. Justin O’Conner is a 15-year veteran, the Muncie native was drafted in the first-round by the Tampa Bay Rays and was one of their top prospects. O’Conner played 28 games for the Kansas City Monarchs in 2024 and he hit six home runs while hitting at a .308 average.
On the infield the 2025 AAPB All-Star Elvis Peralta comes back to Gary, last year Peralta played in all 100 games for the club finishing the year with a .314 batting average, a .392 OBP and stole 31 bases. The 2025 RBI leader for Gary, Joe Suozzi finished the year with 46 RBI’s and hit three home runs in his final 21 games. Oliver Basabe was acquired in a trade from the Kane County Cougars in the 2024 offseason, since then Basabe has been the everyday third baseman. Basabe had a .260 average last season and has only missed seven games the past two years. Cooper Weiss joined the RailCats for the final nine games after spending most of his rookie season down south with the Cleburne Railroaders. In his first AB after the late change he hit an opposite field home run against the Milwaukee Milkmen. Weiss has a .289 batting average, a .500 slugging percentage and two home runs in those nine games. For the first time in RailCats history, two brothers will be on the team at the same time, two Andrean graduates Nick and Frank Podkul. Frank was with the Great Falls Voyagers the last two years where he hit 10+ home runs both seasons. Nick attended Notre Dame and was drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays, he also played in the Philadelphia Phillies and Chicago White Sox organizations before landing in Schaumburg last year. Nick had a massive walk-off home run in the playoffs against Lake Erie.
Going to the outfield the RailCats brought in Korry Howell a former Railroader himself. Due to injury, Howell was limited to just 45 games with Cleburne, but still had 16 extra basehits, stole eight bases and played great defense in center. Kevin Watson Jr is a left-handed hitter that spent time in the Atlantic League the past two years. In both seasons he stole over 40 bases and hit double digit home runs. Jake Guenther was claimed off waivers last year from the Winnipeg Goldeyes and his first home run he hit in a RailCats uniform was a grand slam against his former club. Scout Knotts is a 6-6 power hitter, the Virginia native was with the Lake Erie Crushers the past three years and last year he had 11 home runs, 46 RBIs and a .382 OBP.
The pitching staff sees Peyton Long return after his remarkable finish to the 2025 season, in his final 11 starts he had a 2.93 ERA and a 4.00 strikeout-to-walk ratio. The Bulldog Deyni Olivero was the ‘25 Opening Day Starter, if it weren’t for some injuries and tough luck Olivero could have finished with the best qualifying ERA on the team. The right-hander missed it by 11.1 innings. J.C. Flowers was a two-way star at Florida State playing center field and closing for the Seminoles, he was drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates as a pitcher and spent a lot of time in the Triple-A Indianapolis. Alonzo Richardson was a top ranked shortstop in the state of California but elected to go the pitch route when he signed with the Cleveland Guardians out of high school. Richardson was in the minor leagues for five seasons and was acquired in a trade with the York Revolution. Former Rangers prospect Grant Cherry comes to the ‘Cats after he struck out 50 batters in 49.1 innings last season. All-Star Closer Jacob Coats wrapped up last season with a 1.71 ERA in his final 20 appearances, his 13 saves last year was the most since Andy Loomis had 19 in 2015. Dawson Lane was brought back to Gary after starting the year with York, Lane stepped up for the RailCats rotation late last year when he worked 30.1 innings and had a 2.97 ERA. Denson Hull was claimed off waivers from the Sioux City Explorers in 2024, the lefty had a 4.30 ERA and cut his walk rate from 18% to 12% in 36 games of work in 2025. Joan Valdez sat out last year but he is ready to go for 2026, Valdez had a 1.14 ERA in his first 23 outings of 2024 before dealing with injury and fatigue to close the year. Crown Point native Frank Plesac comes home to the region in his first season with Gary. For the past two seasons Plesac pitched in Joliet with the Slammers, in 26 games he penciled in a 4.26 ERA and walked just 15 in 50.2 innings. Matt Reitz has spent the past three years in the Atlantic League with numerous organizations, Retiz is known as a strike thrower and out of the 338 hitters he faced in ‘25 he gave up just nine walks. Rookie Cade Herrmann comes to Northwest Indiana from Nebraska. He pitched for the Mahoning Valley Scrappers last year for just three games but he struck out four batters in 3.1 innings.
The RailCats and DockHounds are slated to start at 6:35 PM. Fans can catch all the action on AABaseball.tv, all live games are free on the website or from the app on the app store.